In surface mount techniques, individual terminals of a surface mount connector are connected to reflow solder pads of conductive tracks on the surface of a circuit board. Increasing miniaturization and complexity of integrated circuit devices necessitates that the terminals are both relatively thin and closely spaced, the resulting fragility requiring that the connector housing also be secured to the circuit board to afford strain relief, while the connectors themselves must also be closely packed together, occupying a minimum of circuit board area.
It is common practice to secure such connectors to a circuit board by using a metal retaining plate having a first portion anchored in the connector housing and a second, soldering portion attached to a dummy pad on the circuit board by reflow soldering.
In one known surface mount connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application 63-167469, the soldering portion of the retaining plate protrudes horizontally beyond a longitudinal end of a circuit board engaging face of the housing. However, such construction requires additional circuit board area, which is undesirable.
In a second prior proposal, disclosed in Japanese utility model 63-169985, the retaining plate has a soldering portion located entirely underneath the housing which, although obviating a requirement for extra circuit board area, suffers from the disadvantage that the soldered connection is concealed from view above the board, obviating easy inspection of the solder joint, as required for good quality control.